FoxboroCruiser

I find the blind schedule for the tournaments to be a ridiculously fast. They are really “turbo” tournaments and I don’t find those fun. I play to relax and be entertained and that shard to do when the game feels forced.  
 
Love the idea of a side game in the card room would be awesome. Tough to lug a suitcase of chips on board though!

Yes, all of the Voyager and bigger ships will have a regular 10 seat Texas Hold 'Em table.  I think even some of the Radiance class ships have them now.  I know that Radiance used to have one.  They use them for the Royal Poker Tour satellite tournaments and also for cash games.  The blinds seem to vary on the different ships.  They generally have $1/$3 but sometimes they will require $2/$5 blinds which I generally shun. The minimum buy-in is $50, IIRC.  We usually start with $200 each.  If I lose that I am generally outta there.  I'm not an aggressive player so I am sometimes not particularly successful, but I love to play so I do when I can.  But sometimes, those of us who are quiet can really put a hurtin' on the donks if you get just the right cards !  LOL
All of the electronic poker machines are now GONE, thank God.  It's not that I didn't care for the machines....I actually kinda liked them but they were ALWAYS broken.  We sailed on the last cruise on Allure where they had the machines.  When we disembarked, so did the Poker Pro machines !  Now everyone has a live dealer, which seems to be the vast majority of peoples' preference.
The problem with live Texas Hold "Em cash games is that it is often difficult to get a game started.  They almost never have any action during the day.  The single exception for us was when we were on a TA on Radiance in 2015.  We played EVERY day for 12 days, afternoon and evenings.  But that is a TRUE anomaly.  Most evenings, you just kind of have to plant yourself at a table and eventually folks who are interested will come by and get a game started.  This was one nice thing about the poker machines.  They were available 24/7.  But they are gone now.  My experience is that once you get a poker "group" established, you will end up playing with the same folks every night, which is almost always a good thing.  At least you figure out who the bullies are and learn to play around them.
Of course, there are the tournament satellites but we don't play in them anymore. They rarely get enough people to participate to permit them to give away the "free" cruise so it generally ends up being cash prizes.  I am not a good tournament player so I rarely, if ever, play in them.  Dan won it one year...one of the first years that they did the Royal Poker Tour.  We got a free cruise on Liberty and an entry into the finals.  He went out in the first round.  LOL

Have had several Promenade interiors on different Voyager-class ships, and will be there again in October. Love those rooms! We choose a room on deck 7 -- gives you a "buffer" floor between your room and whatever is going on down on the Promenade, but still close enough for people and parade watching. Have never had a problem with sound or light, but I do always bring clothespins to help hold the curtains all the way closed because we like it super dark. 
 

Yes you will not only be able to reserve once onboard, there is also standby seating that will be available as well. It’s only a small number of seats that are available for pre-boarding booking. You will be fine.

How do we know the difference between throttling and just poorer service in some areas 🤔

I carry a few singles to tip for every drink. I generally tip specialty dining staff $20 or so. MDR is like $50 and $20 for assistant. I spend may be $250 max on 7 night cruise.
In my estimation these people don’t make a lot. If I can afford a week long cruise, I can afford a buck a drink and one meals worth of tipping for a week of service.  Everyone has their own opinion, and none are wrong. 

Sailed Quantum for the first time last week (Anthem) and we really loved the Music Hall and 270 venues.  Really awesome spots on the ship.  I wasn't sure how I was going to feel on Promenade/Esplanade, but like you, I did find the 2 level implementation to work really well.  As a group, we really liked Quantum class.

I recently took Serenade through the Panama Canal.  Would love to take her again! I love the promenade (outside with the lifeboats). Schooner bar and viking crown are all great. The revolving bar in the viking crown is very cool 

If you are going to store valuables in a suitcase I recommend you toss your underwear on top before you lock it. No one will bother once they open it.
Also Underwear has been securing the "Family Jewels" for hundreds of years.

Man, drives me nuts when I see people say the deluxe is not worth it because they can't drink that much alcohol....
PSA,its not just alcohol!!! when you factor in the price per day that means ALL drinks (coffee, juices,smoothies, soda, and yes booze) all of that adds up quick! 
Rant over, and yes, I understand the deluxe is not for everyone (non drinkers, voucher people, etc) 
Thanks for joining my ted talk

I'm hoping Liberty gets it when she goes in for Maint in April since they finally just fixed the pool screen.

I would love it if we could cruise back to Cuba.  We were only able to get in one cruise and it was shut down a few months later.  Really nice people and we were looking forward to visiting again.

Not strictly relevant to WiFi but looks like some serious refurb happening. Photo from Marc Walker on Facebook.

Late
Dislike

But like I dislike it only because it was nice to have the room cleaned and turned down seemingly any time I left the stateroom for any particular length of time. I don't think it's necessary at all, but it was appreciated and I made sure I tipped my attendant accordingly for his attentiveness and effort.

I received and completed the RCL survey this morning... but wanted to add my review comments here as well. Your thoughts are welcome
Let’s start at the end… We just booked out 2024 cruise with Royal Caribbean for February  – that’s how much my wife and I enjoyed our trip.
With that out of the way, let’s look at some of the components that made our trip this year so enjoyable. Elana and I haven’t cruised in about 15 years and the difference is astounding.
Entertainment – 10/10
I never expected such quality and quantity as we had on our cruise. A different show almost every night. A couple of the shows were just amazing (Hiro and Hairspray) while others were amazing well executed nonsense (1977 and Flight: Dare to Dream).
Staff and Service – 11/10
From our cabin steward, to the people at the various dining venues, to the island staff at Coco Cay, everyone was so nice and so friendly. RCL has done a great job sourcing and training their team.
Featured Dining - 9/10 
We ate at a number of places on board during the cruise (Chop House, Izumi – for dinner and the sushi class/brunch, as well as Jamie’s Italian). In each case the quality of the food (ingredients and preparation) was excellent. The service level superb, but I have to give a point off due to the value – it’s just a bit too expensive.
Main Dining Room – 5/10
I’ve heard and viewed a ton of stories about the new menu in the Main Dining Room. Sorry, the food just does not cut it. The first night of the cruise, we ate at the main dining room. The New York Strip steak and baked potato reminded me of Sizzler (a chain of low-priced steak houses that went bankrupt a few years back). Just basic and cheap. 
To be totally honest, I think the MDR is an idea whose time has come and gone. I would like to see smaller, specialty venues integrated with the Featured Dining program so that cruisers have more choice and more price points.
Other Dining 8/10
The two buffets were very good (Windjammer Marketplace and Solana Bistro). The only thing was that they were very crowded. I think many diners there were refugees from the Main Dining Room. 
Cabin – 9/10
We got an ocean view balcony and I wouldn’t have it any other way… We watched several sail aways from out balcony, and my wife love them. It also was a great escape from sea days when the pools were overcrowded. 
Activities – 9/10
Just a lot of stuff to do. On my last cruise, Sea Days were boring… not on this cruise. I even did the Zip line, what a rush!
Tech – Too new to rate
RCL is investing in technology throughout the ship. But a number of the improvements are new and will still take time to shake out the bugs… 
•    WoW bands – NFC tags in a plastic watchband. Royal Caribbean needs to go all in on this tech. Our cruise was the first to make them available to all passengers. But it was still hard to use them at bars and to get on or off the ship. 
•    RCL app – There’s a ton of stuff going on within the app. But I’d like to see the NFC capabilities of the WoW bands integrated into the App. A number of hotels already use NFC and Bluetooth to add your hotel key to your phone. RCL should as well. The physical bands should be used for those whose phones don’t have NFC chips (which most phones have).
•    Starlink – YES, YES, YES! Real internet on board. RCL continues to roll this service out to their fleet and I’m very happy about it. Still some bugs and $500 for a week is expensive, but it’s real progress. 
That’s it… looking forward to next year and my next cruise.
 
 
 

If you can't find a photo of your room, find one as close as possible.  Since the layout alters every other cabin you can do the math based on that nearby cabin to figure out yours.

I have done 10 cruises solo and before that I cruised as a solo parent.  I have found out that I am never alone.  I have thousands of new friends.  If you are willing to talk there is always someone to talk to.  On the other hand I love being able to set my own agenda and change it anytime I want.  I do what I want.  If I want to do every activity during the day that is what I do.  If I want to stay in my room and watch tv and nap all day that is what I do.  Solo is great.

I love solo cruising..don't have to answer to anyone and you get to live on your own timeline and agenda.  It's fantastic! 
If you are looking to socialize, talk to anyone and everyone on the cruise and you'll meet tons of people. They usually advertise a solo meet up of some sort on the cruises in the Cruise Compass, at least they have been on my current cruise. I'm solo but I haven't attended any of them so I'm not sure how it goes 😂

Finally after 3 long years of cancelling due to COVID, we are finally taking our very first cruise!!  Sailing out of PR and visiting, St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Maarteen, St. Kitts, St. Lucia & Barbados!  Since it's our first cruise I don't have anything to compare it to, so for me the ship (Voyager) will be amazing!  One thing I knew that I wanted was a balcony room, as for me I need to see the light outside.  I picked middle of the ship and 6th floor.  However I just realized that we are one floor above the Promenade......hope that's not an issue; LOL.if it is, lesson learned. Decided not to purchase the drink package since we have no at sea days; we are at a port every day.  Again, I'm sure there will be lots of "lessons learned" along the way.  I've already started to pack and I'm pretty sure I'm overpacking; knowing that I can do laundry on the ship.....I'm sure from today until we leave I'll be rethinking my clothing options many many times over!  Feel free to give us any advice; everything and anything is welcomed!

Empress of the Seas (late February 2020).   We were one of the last cruises before the pandemic and don't think she was brought back.
She was small, and you could feel motion when the wind kicked up, but the best all around crew we've sailed with and had everything we needed for an enjoyable trip.
 

I know Chris Wong is a very popular one on YouTube, but I thought it might be a good idea to share other YouTube channels for crew members.  Maybe it will generate some subscribers, views, and likes for their YouTube content.  If they get enough of a following, it might help generate some additional revenue for them as a side hustle. 
This video is one from a synchronize swimmer who has been on Harmony and currently on Oasis (Aqua 80's).  She does short videos that frequently give behind scenes of the aqua shows.  
 If anyone cares to share others, that would be cool.  

Also just a heads up, there is no guarantee that you got it from the ship. If you got it, then dozens, if not hundreds of other people would have also gotten it. Food poisoning isn’t something that limits itself to an individual here or there in an environment like a cruise ship.  There is quite a long time span between 2/4 and last night. 

I recently uncovered a box which had long been forgotten containing photos of past cruises with my late wife of 39 years, Linda.  While looking at the photos I was amazed that most of the ships we enjoyed are now gone.  I then started looking to see which was the oldest ship we cruised on.  I think the oldest ship would be either the Song of Norway or the Sun Viking.  Both were great ships which we really enjoyed.  As I looked at the photos and all the fine people we met I realized the memories were worth every penny we spent on cruises.  I am very lucky to be building new memories with my new wife Kathy as we plan our ninth cruise.  What is the oldest ship you've sailed on?

@Biaggio Thanks! I presume they'll have really good air ventilation etc to make the non-smoking side properly smoke-free?
Hopefully I can play poker in the non-smoking side!

Yeah yeah I know we have all gotten them before but damn it sure is a pleasant surprise in the in box. Thanks Royal marketing team.